Episode 199: Interview w/ Gabe Grunewald and Day 2 Recap

Jason and Kevin interview Gabe Grunewald on the controversy surrounding her disqualification from the women’s 3k. Then, the guys talk about the other drama regarding Alberto Salazar and eventually break down the performances from day 2 of the US Indoor Championships.

Gabe I have praise for what you have accomplished as an athlete; I feel that in the women’s 3000m race you were clearly the best athlete; you did not intend to commit an infraction and I wished you had not been DQed. With all of that said, technically (by the rules), you were eligible for a DQ and Alberto as coach was well in his rights to file a protest. Something to think about – officials will allow a certain amount of upper body contact early in a race, but cutting in early or clipping someone from behind in the late stages of a race with a lot at stake is difficult to overlook. I admire how everyone is advocating on your behalf, but Jordan has rights as well and there are rules. Right now there are a lot of people on your side in this matter, but if the DQ had not happened, there would be a ton of people making you out to be a bad guy for clipping Jordan…that’s how the online world goes. – Btw, this is from someone who has been around the sport for several decades as an athlete, coach, race/meet director and official.

Good work from Albuquerque! You outdid yourselves. And it’s pleasing to see you getting recognized and linked by Track and Field News and Ken Goe.

Here’s another field event for your Dream Meet: Sudden Death Long Jump!
Start with 8 jumpers. Everyone gets two jumps. They all advance to the final but you pair them up, longest jumper against shortest, #2 against #7, #3 vs #6, and #4 vs #5. Then one jump to advance to the next round…the winner in each pair advances, the loser is out.
Nothing you’ve done before counts. And you measure from the point of take-off…no need for safe jumps because there are no fouls. (Officials would still note the legal jumps but in this long jump TOURNAMENT it wouldn’t matter.)
The four winning jumpers advance to round four, in pairs. And two advance to the winner-take-all final. It’s athlete vs athlete…win and advance. Lose and take a seat.
If the stadium announcer were on top of this, it might be compelling enough to ignore or even delay running events. All hail, field & track!